Liu Man knelt to scoop up Daylight in her arms.

Whoever declared that cats would forget their owners if given food was misled.

Daylight, who lived the high life at Yu Zhan’s, remembered Liu Man for sure. She reached out her front paws, grabbed onto her owner’s finger, and put it in her mouth. She lightly bit on it and wasn’t willing to let go.

“My little Daylight.” Liu Man used her spare hand to pet Daylight as she cooed.

“She’s missed you these twenty days.”

Yu Zhan took care of Paul and walked over to pet Daylight. Daylight closed her eyes and contentedly lifted her head so Yu Zhan could also pet her chin.

It was obvious that Yu Zhan pets her like this very often.

It was also obvious that Daylight now thought Yu Zhan was also her owner.

The pair brought the cat and the dog into the living room. Yu Zhan’s living room decorations were the same as it was in his photo, with “The Untrammeled Traveler” covering an entire wall. The actual calligraphy work was more astonishing than it was in the photo. Only Yu Zhan’s gigantic living room could bear such a magnificent calligraphy work.

Liu Man, with Daylight in her arms, stood in front of her work and looked at it for a long time.

“Sometimes, I do this too. I would stand here and admire this work, looking at it word by word. I would search online for words I don’t understand, but the internet doesn’t hold lots of information about seal characters,” Yu Zhan’s voice sounded behind Liu Man.

“The way you wrote some words are rarely seen. For example, the way you wrote this ‘South’. The seal characters on the internet separate these two dots in the middle, but you connect these two dots. I really want to know why. During the break, I even went to the library in hopes of finding out why.”

Liu Man turned her head and asked him out of curiosity, “Did you find out why?”

Yu Zhan shook his head, “Maybe it’s because I didn’t go to the right place.”

The things she wrote were recognized and examined. She felt both accomplished and happy, and she explained to Yu Zhan:

“I wrote ‘South’ in ‘Print’ seal characters.”

Yu Zhan was perplexed, “What ‘Print’ seal characters? Seal characters from India?”

TL’s Note: In Chinese, ‘Print’ sounds the same as ‘India.’

Liu Man didn’t know whether to cry or laugh, “You really know very less about Ancient China culture.”

“Well, there’s no way for me to know much about it. I told you before that I left China when I was a kid, and I’ve been completely brainwashed by the western culture,” Yu Zhan mocked himself, “So, what are ‘Print’ seal characters?”

“‘Print’ seal characters are seal characters carved on stamps, such as the emperor’s stamp or the queen’s. They all use ‘Print’ seal characters.”

“I’ve learned something,” Yu Zhan imitated actions from ancient Chinese, “My admiration for you is like a surging river.”

Liu Man felt it was awkward to receive such a solemn treatment, “It’s not a big deal.”

Han’s papermaking was not as advanced as later generations. Paper is scarce and expensive. There was almost no paper that could be supplied to the cold palace. To let Liu Man, as a child, learn Chinese characters, Madam Xu first asked her to dip her brush in water and write on the ground. When she grew up a little, she was taught to use a knife to carve on wood and stone, and then she started writing on the silk with a brush.

Although Yu Zhan’s words sounded like a joke, he admired Liu Man in his heart. She was so young, yet her talents were incredibly rare.

There was a clock on another wall of the living room. It always made a sound whenever the minute-hand hit 12.

“Ding~”

Yu Zhan turned his head, “It’s ten.”

Liu Man was surprised, “I had no idea! It’s ten already?”

“Your flight got delayed for about twenty minutes, and we spent one hour coming downtown from the airport. We spent another fifteen minutes looking for a restaurant, and we spent forty minutes eating. Then we came to my apartment, we played with the pets, and chatted about the calligraphy works. Time passes fast.”

Liu Man frowned, “I promised my fans to live-stream tonight.”

She didn’t expect Yu Zhan to say, “You can live-stream wherever you want. You can start now.”

To live-stream at Yu Zhan’s apartment? Liu Man was hesitating.

This was her first time at his house, and she was going to live-stream? Where was her courtesy?

But if she went home now, she probably won’t have the time to live-stream. Would the fans start saying she didn’t fulfill her promises? She, herself, hated people who promised things they couldn’t fulfill.

In the end, her fear of losing fans conquered her ambivalence.

She comforted herself that, even though she was live-streaming at Yu Zhan’s apartment, apart from him being a little uncomfortable, there weren’t other problems.

Because Princess Man had announced in a Wei Bo post that she was going to live-stream later, many fans started waiting for her from seven o’clock in the evening. As a result, they waited from seven to eight, from eight to nine, and nine to ten.

A sense of disappointment started spreading in the fans’ hearts.

Right at this time, Princess Man’s live-streaming profile picture suddenly lit up.

The fans’ hearts lit up instantly, too.

“Sis, you’re finally online. I almost thought you were going to break your promise.”

“Princess, I waited for three hours! It was so tiring.”

“I knew sis is a credible person, so she was probably hindered by something.”

Ten o’clock was the golden hour for live-streaming. More than 4000 fans rushed into Princess Man’s live-stream in just seconds, and there were still more incoming.

The fans discussed a lot with each other, but they still didn’t see Princess Man. The camera hadn’t been adjusted yet, and it was pointing at the gray floor below.

“Huh, I remembered that the floor at sis’ house was wooden. Is sis not at home?”

“Maybe she’s not back at the capital and is still in a Shanghai hotel?”

“What happened to our princess? I’m so worried.”

Liu Man was making a stand for her phone on the table. She used her old method; piling up a few books. Yu Zhan, who was an onlooker nearby, saw how proficient she was and guessed she did that often.

“Finally,”

Princess Man’s voice came from the live-stream, and in the next second, everyone saw the chin they were so familiar with.

“Sis is finally here! Confettis! Claps!”

“Happy New Year, live-streamer!”

“I wish sis a Happy New Year and lots of luck to earn lots of money in your live-streams!”

“Our princess wore such a beautiful fur coat! It even has a cute little elk on the front.”

Yu Zhan’s house was sweltering because it had the air conditioner on. Liu Man took off her jacket, and she was wearing an old sweater the past Liu Man wore when she was in high school.

Yu Zhan logged into his “I’m a vet” account and entered Liu Man live-stream. As he saw this comment, his eyes looked up from the screen and sneaked a look at the elk in front of Liu Man’s chest.

It was, indeed, very cute.

Liu Man spoke up, “I wish all of you a Happy New Year, too. Apologies for starting the live-stream so late in the night.”

“It’s not late at all; I usually sleep at 3 or 4 during winter breaks.” — Otaku Boy

“This admin is amazing.”

“Why haven’t you died out of exhaustion yet?”

“Wait, wait, wait, don’t talk. You guys are blocking my view.”

“Where did this funny idiot come from? Is your view that important?”

“Admin, kick this idiot out.”

“Shut up, you guys. Look at that background behind the live-streamer. Doesn’t it look like the living room in the photo ‘I’m a vet’ posted before?”

Credits: Sydney & Puppxteer/Yutong

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